Sexuality and the Law Commons^™

Digital Bodily Autonomy: Consent Issues, Labor Displacement, And Legal Understandings Of Ai Generated Deepfake Pornography, Mariah Barrett

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

In the United States, nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes are becoming an increasingly prevalent problem as AI deepfake creation software improves and becomes widely available. Despite this, patchwork legislation across the country is inconsistent and conflicting regarding this issue. In this paper, I explore the background of pornography and obscenity laws and demonstrate how these frameworks are not properly constructed to apply to the digital sphere. Then, I address major themes within deepfake literature such as consent issues, bodily autonomy, labor displacement, and verifiable identity as a commodity through the case study of OnlyFans. I explore current and proposed legislation within the …

Understanding The Experiences And Visibility Of Asexual People And Guiding Policy To Effectively Protect Asexuality, Lizzie Stravens

University Honors Theses

Asexuality is sexual orientation defined by those who experience little to no sexual attraction. Despite asexuality being as common as red headedness or left handedness, it has been severely overlooked in research and conversations. Because many people are not aware of the existence of asexuality, it has not been directly attacked by anti-queer campaigns. Still, there have been some recent shifts in this dynamic as asexuality becomes more visible. I conducted a linear regression on the 2022 Ace Community Survey results. I analyzed the effect of theoretically important variables on the outness of asexual respondents. Results indicated an importance on …

Gendered Harms In Armed Conflict: International Legal Responses To The Gendered Effects Of The War In Sudan, Naima Dams

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis interrogates how international law conceptualizes, prosecutes, and ultimately limits the understanding of sexual violence in contexts of war and displacement. Drawing on feminist legal theory, postcolonial critique, and ethnographic fieldwork with Sudanese women displaced in Egypt, it questions the dominant legal framing of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) as episodic, exceptional, and individualized. Instead, it reveals sexual violence as structural, continuous, and embedded in the everyday realities of racialized, gendered, and colonial harm.

Through ethnographical narratives, the study exposes how survivors' experiences often exceed the legibility frameworks of humanitarian and legal institutions, which prioritize spectacular, forensic evidence over slow, …

Menstrual Math: The Price Of Bleeding, Gabrielle Langston

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project examines the landscape of menstrual equity in the United States through a data storytelling lens, focusing on state-level policies regarding taxation and access to menstrual products. The analysis explores which states impose sales tax on menstrual products, if state schools provide free menstrual products, and which states ensure access for incarcerated individuals using publicly available datasets from advocacy groups. Additionally, there is an investigation into potential correlations between the gender wage gap and states that tax menstrual products, shedding light on economic and policy disparities.

Through its data visualizations, this project aims to provide a clear, although not …

The Rise And Fall Of The Contagious Diseases Acts: An Examination Of The Legislative Influences, Medical Discourse And Repeal Arguments, Elizabeth Henderson

All Theses

The Contagious Diseases Acts (CDA) were the most important legislative intervention concerning sexuality in the nineteenth century. The CDA was a public health measure passed to address the spread of venereal disease amongst the British Army and Navy, and targeted Britain's most vulnerable women – sex workers – because they were blamed for being the presumed cause and primary mode of spreading venereal disease. This resulted in the legalization of what critics of the CDA would call surgical assault, or instrumental rape, of working-class women suspected of being sex workers. Historians who study sexuality and sex work in Britain have …

A Secluded Cabin On The Outskirts Of Riverside: A 1937 Trial For Conspiracy To Have Gay Sex, Randall Stoner, Randi Stoner

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 14, 1937, a group of deputy sheriffs and military police surrounded a secluded cabin on the outskirts of Riverside and forced their way inside, arresting everyone on the premises for conspiracy to violate California Penal Code sections 288a and 286: oral copulation and sodomy. Though same-sex relations were outlawed, these men had sought to create a place of privacy for themselves—only to have it surveilled and raided by members of law enforcement. The subsequent trial, People v. Jordan, was a landmark case for the city of Riverside. Many histories of LGBTQ …

Reporting Sexual Violence: The Victim's Right To Protection And Justice, Nada Shehata

Theses and Dissertations

Incidents of sexual violence are still under-reported to legal institutions in Egypt despite the recent legal amendments. The reasons for under-reporting SV incidents to police stations appear to be the same that justifies victim’s non-reporting or resorting to various social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram as “Daftr Hekayat” and “AssaultPolice” which provided a safe space for them to reveal the assault incidents and warn potential victims from the shamed assailants. As successful as these accounts are, they have their drawbacks. It is not accessible to economically and educationally disadvantaged victims, and lately, the perpetrators started to file defamation lawsuits …

An Ethnography Of Love Jihad: The Governance Of Interfaith Marriages In Times Of Hindutva, Snehal Sharma

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

My doctoral research focuses on the violations of human and citizenship rights of women and religiously marginalized communities (based on religious differences) in the backdrop of right-wing movements in India. I assess the Hindu nationalist propaganda named “love jihad” to demonstrate the way it weaponizes religious exogamy. This propaganda legitimizes violence against Indian religious minorities and women as it claims that marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men are acts of terrorism against Hindus with the sole aim of increasing the Muslim population using Hindu women's bodies. I have used ethnographic research methods to explore the legal process of interfaith …

Let's Talk About Sex: Investigating Radical Feminist Theories On Prostitution In The United States, Anna E. Peterson

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper explores the feminist debates surrounding prostitution through an analysis of Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin’s abolitionist theories, juxtaposed with critiques from Wendy Brown, Janet Halley, Susie Bright, and Marxist feminist abolitionist Esperanza Fonseca. The text examines the systemic forces of patriarchy and capitalism that commodify women’s bodies and the challenges of legislative approaches to the sex trade. While MacKinnon and Dworkin identify the structural inequalities underpinning prostitution, their legislative proposals often fail to address the stigma and systemic conditions that perpetuate the marginalization of prostituted people. Critics like Brown and Halley highlight the limitations of punitive measures, calling …

This Is A Call To Action For All Primary Care Providers: Do Better For Your Transgender Patients, Kate Castor

Theses and Graduate Projects

Background: Patients of all ages benefit from primary care. However, not everyone has equal access to primary care. Transgender patients often face a multitude of barriers to receiving basic healthcare.

Purpose: Improve health outcomes for transgender patients, enlighten providers on significant disparities, and offer solutions to these disparities faced by transgender community in the healthcare setting and when receiving cancer screening.

Methods: Literature review comprising results from Augsburg University Lindell Library databases, American Journal of Medicine, and Google Scholar.

Conclusions: Everyone can do better for their transgender patients, but primary care providers should take extra care cultivating relationships with these …

Title Ix On The Hill, Riley Peck

College Honors Program

This thesis seeks to answer the question, “What does Title IX mean at the College of the Holy Cross?” It considers and triangulates the words and experiences of students, faculty members, and Office of Title IX and Equal Opportunity (Office) administrators to gauge the understandings and potential misconceptions of available resources and the College’s culture. Further, it draws upon archival analysis to situate the Office in a broader historical context of the College and also includes an auto-ethnographic component. This thesis concludes with general suggestions for the Office and the College at large to more efficiently combat sexual violence and …

The Consequences Of Homophobia: Analysis Of Discriminatory Medical And Legislative Policies And Their Influence On Health Disparities, Kaiden J. Fandel

Honors Thesis

Are there specific roots that influence the introduction and incorporation of discriminatory medical policies? What are the sources of such stigma, discrimination, and prejudice, in what forms does such discrimination take place, and what negative impacts does such hatred have on health outcomes, quality of care, and health disparities? Through a review of existing literature on this topic, intertwining the examination of the evolution of discriminatory policies and other explanatory literature in the United States, this thesis aims to answer the questions above, and explain the roots of such homophobic discrimination and its prevalence in the United States. Through the …

The Sentiments Of Drag Performers On Anti-Drag Legislation: A Thematic Analysis, Brian D. Briggs

Senior Theses

Since 2022, at least 21 states have considered, filed, or passed legislation with the goal of banning or limiting drag performances in public spaces or in the presence of minors. These pieces of legislation seek to suppress drag performances on the grounds that they appeal to sexual interests, and they even go as far as to claim that drag performers aim to groom and assault children at their performances. These claims are baseless and vastly misrepresent the true breadth of drag as a performance art and the positive messages it promotes, as well as suggest that bias against the LGBTQ+ …

Navigating Sexual Consent In Japan, Samara Mizutani Cesar

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Employing an exploratory sequential research design, including focus groups and an online survey, this thesis explores the factors influencing how Japanese people navigate the gray zones of sexual consent. This study not only addresses gaps in the literature on sexual consent but also provides a preliminary understanding of Japanese individuals’ perceptions, beliefs, behaviors, and experiences in ambiguous sexual interactions, which is particularly meaningful given Japan’s recent legal revisions and changing sociocultural landscape. Findings indicated the impact of traditional sexual scripts on consent perceptions, with gender and relationship norms contributing to the dismissal of sexual assaults within specific relationships. It was …

Strictly Intersectional Scrutiny: A Recommendation For Transforming The Epc To Highlight Queer Black Women, Kayla M. Richardson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and how this interpretation can become more intersectional for Black queer women. This question is explored within the scope of two theoretical frameworks: Derrick Bell’s theory of interest convergence and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality. This project examines whether any factors compel SCOTUS to be more intersectional in its approach to the Fourteenth Amendment. Simultaneously, this study also considers what social contexts make SCOTUS more likely to focus on the interests of the oppressor, a demographic …

A Legal Herstory Of Wwii ‘Comfort Women’ — Chapters: Past, Present, And Beyond, Linny Kit Tong Ng

LL.M. Essays & Theses

This paper delves into the legal accountability and historical narrative, which go hand in hand, surrounding the comfort women system implemented by the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII. These women, including my late grandmother from South Korea, were forced into sexual slavery, servicing Japanese soldiers across the Asia-Pacific. Despite being one of the most significant atrocities in history, with victims from 10 countries and between 20,000 to 500,000 individuals, the plight of comfort women remains relatively unheard of.

The politicization of the comfort women movement has been a barrier to both acknowledgment and justice. My grandmother's silence for 80 years …

Politics Of Refusal: Justice And Liberation For Black Trans Lives, Quincy Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis investigates the challenges faced by Black trans people. In this thesis, I will explore how protest is used to highlight and confront the obstacles faced by the Black trans community. I will also examine the cultural work of Black trans people and what they teach us. The Brooklyn Liberation march and the TV show Pose is an important part of Black trans legacy. They both look at the complications surrounding Black trans lives and contributes to Black trans representation in protesting and fighting marginalization. This thesis will argue the importance of allyship to create safe space for Black …

Queer Crises: Movements From Queerness And Feelings Of White Religion In The United States, Austin Williams Miller

Communication ETDs

Anchored by contemporary crises surrounding queer and trans people in the United States, I employ movements from queerness within an affective queer phenomenological framework to understand how arrangements of “white religion” (Schaefer, 2015, p. 63), a process whereby U.S. American Christian forms escape ideology into religious affective economies in the United States, relegate queer people “to the background… to sustain a certain direction” (Ahmed, 2006, p. 31). I assemble a queer rhetorical context analyzing white religious space in documentary film, secular sexual regulation through contemporary U.S. legal contexts around marriage, and settler colonial Christian nationalist political imaginations to critique how …

The Family Values: Is It Really About The Family? Analyzing The Family In The Egyptian Discourse Through A Sociological Lens, Taher Sabala

Theses and Dissertations

The Egyptian state has put on its shoulders the responsibility of protecting the family and its values. But how this family, in a massive society like Egypt, can be defined? In this paper, I argue that it has never been about protecting the family. However, it is an attempt to shape the citizens into small separate hives which give the State the power to gain access to the intimate details of its citizens’ lives through which they can be easily monitored, managed, and controlled. By analyzing Michel Foucault’s work on government, power, sexuality, and family, I travel through a historical …

The Effects Of “No Pro Homo” Policies On Lgbtq+ Perceptions In The American South, Isabella L. Brocato

Honors Theses

Five states in the American South currently have “no pro homo” policies in place, while an increasing number of bills targeting discussions about sexuality and gender identity in public schools are being introduced to House floors around the country. Although there is extensive research on the ways in which these policies put the physical and mental well-being of LGBTQ+ students at risk, there is little to no research about how they shape public perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community collectively. With inspiration from Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s social science study cited in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), this study works …

Factors Influencing The Credibility And Believability Of Victims Of Sexual Assault, Stephanie Carlson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The purpose of this research is to answer the question of which factors that influence the believability of a woman who comes forward to disclose a sexual assault are the most impactful. My methodology consisted of conducting interviews with attorneys who have participated in both the defense and prosecution of criminal sexual conduct cases to evaluate whether the trends revealed in the literature on a macro scale apply to the micro-scale in northern Minnesota. Findings showed that the majority of patterns revealed in the literature did in fact influence the credibility of victims of sexual assault in Beltrami County, Minnesota …

Is A Rainbow Pink Or Blue? Creating Jail Policies For Transgender Inmates, Hunter Schultz

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

The United States prison system functions on a binary of male and female inmates. Transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and intersex individuals challenge the limits of these systems and their policies. This paper addresses how to create policy for transgender individuals and what the policies should include. The best practice for creating policies involves basing them in solid ethics. Looking at different ethical theories will help solve ethical dilemmas involving housing, searching, and other policies for transgender and gender non-conforming inmates. To ensure that policies coincide with the law, an examination of case law provides the legal background for these policies. …

What We Are Owed: The Possibilities Of A Civil Law Response To Sexual Injuries, Nathalie Marx

Scripps Senior Theses

Drawing from philosophical, feminist, and legal frameworks, this thesis aims to reconceptualize our understanding of sexual violations. I suggest that rape and other sexual violations produce injuries unique from other forms of physical violence that must be addressed as an extension of a culture which objectifies, restricts the agency of, and shames women. It is argued that through the ability for survivors to bring a civil claim of negligence against their perpetrators following a sexual injury, pathways for restorative healing and cultural transformation are opened, and a more responsive legal standard for fault is created. This paper responds to theories …

Honor Thyself, Alonzo O. Williams

Dance (MFA) Theses

The black male experience and identity in America are filled with complexity. We struggle to know ourselves. We work to see the way of love and the peace of an unviolated free spirit. We want to engage with ourselves with the highest degree of freedom and comfort, not to continue to question our identity in a life-threatening white patriarchal masculinity ideal. Honoring oneself from the lenses of the Reconstruction era of the United States is essential. Reconceptualizing this history explores the significance of emphasizing Reconstruction in my life as a black male to go through a process of self-discovery and …

Litigation, Legislation, And Love: The Comparative Efficacy Of Litigation And Legislation For The Expansion Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Civil Rights, Mallory Harrington

Honors College Theses

This research examines the comparative efficacy of federal appellate court decisions and federal legislation with regards to the furtherance of civil rights on the basis of sexual orientation. The research examines efficacy based upon the number of measures which have been implemented as well as the content of each measure. The research examines federal appellate and Supreme Court decisions, as well as adopted pieces of federal legislation since 1950. It also examines the likely causes of the disparities in efficacy that are indicated in this analysis. The findings of this research indicate that litigation has been much more effective at …

Adjudicating Patriarchy In The Nationality Law, Muhammed Samy Ahmed Mr.

Theses and Dissertations

The Egyptian legal structure has long discriminated against women. Taking nationality law as an example, it is obvious that all consecutive nationality laws have ignored women’s right concerning passing on and acquiring nationality. Even after its amendment in 2004, major gender discrimination still exists. This is caused by the fact that the nationality law is only a part of the legal system. Consequently, its essence will not deviate from the patriarchal composition of the overall nature of the legal system. This paper argues that the existing forms of discrimination in the nationality law correlate with the broader legal environment. Hence, …

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

Rights For The “Non-Conforming” Woman: The Intersectionality Of The Fight For Women’S Rights And Lgbtq+ Rights In Argentina, Talia C. Housman

Honors Theses

Argentina has faced many challenges throughout its history of activism as the people have pushed for an equal society. Different movements have sprung up over the years, but they have begun to twist together in recent times due to the need for support during repressive regimes. This brings into question the concept of intersectionality, which spans feminist, queer, and legal theory in its attempt to explain the need for overlap, modeling the natural development of personal identities and groups like family. The feminist movement and the LGBTQ+ movements have woven together in many rallies, especially during El Encuentro Nacional de …

Working From Home: Analyzing The Autonomy Of App-Based Adult Content Creators, Jenna Depasquale

Dissertations and Theses

Accessibility to social media applications ("apps") has paved the way for a new addition under the umbrella of sex work: adult content creation. By selling self-produced photos and videos through mainstream social media apps, creators experience a specific set of conditions unlike the forms of sex work that have proceeded it. Through 13 semi-structured interviews, the following question is investigated: What aspects of app-based sex work heighten or threaten workers' senses of autonomy? Autonomy is defined as being able to exert control over one's work and the ability to work without external interruption. It is found that while the demand …

Retitling Title Ix, Matthew F. Marino

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Title IX, a federal education policy put into place in the early 1970s, has been under the microscope for its perceived failure to protect students from sexual misconduct. Since 2011, and especially since 2017, conflict has existed among higher education, the judicial system, and the Department of Education (ED), resulting in little clarity as to proper Title IX response. However, little research exists that attempts to examine court cases for both commonalities and divergence in how higher education institutions respond to Title IX incidents of sexual misconduct and whether those procedures mesh with how the courts view proper Title IX …